If you’ve been following my blog, you know that it’s been about 3 weeks now since I started eating vegetarian (on weekdays) until 6 PM.

Well, today I faltered. I woke up to the glorious scent of bacon! Tim had made some and when he saw that I was awake he asked if I was gonna eat. We both knew it was a rhetorical question.

Vuthy + Bacon = Inseparable!

I had totally forgotten about my “no-meat-til-6″ routine and was eagerly anticipating biting into a crisp strip. But then as I washed my face and brushed my hair, a thought jolted me fully awake: WAITAMINUTE! I CAN’T HAVE BACON! IT’S MEAT!

But that thought lasted less than a second when I realized I was talking about bacon here. I cannot not have bacon, so I had two super delicious strips and split the third one between the dogs.

It’s lunchtime here. For the past 3 weeks I have also been going out for a brisk, 30-minute lunchtime walk, but not today. It is raining steadily out. I have an umbrella and probably would still have ventured out, but the walk I take is mainly uphill along winding roads with no sidewalks and a lot of fallen leaves, dirt and debris. It’s just not safe to do that walk, especially with all the blind turns up there in these wet and slick conditions.

Now, I don’t feel badly at all about eating the bacon. Bacon cannot be resisted… what am I? God?

But I do feel sucky about not being able to do my walk. I was on a roll there! I guess I will make up for it at the gym tonight. Even though the weather is nasty, and it’s Friday, I know I will still go to the gym. I’m at the point where I really look forward to it every day. Woo!

Update: It’s 15 minutes before the end of the work day, quite dark, rainy and windy outside, and I am not wanting to go to the gym! Yes, I lied to you earlier!

• Go to the gym frequently.
  See rest of entry below.
• Eat healthier/eat out less/cook/buy groceries.
  See rest of entry below.
• Put aside money each paycheck into a savings account.
  I’ve set up a high-yield savings account at eTrade and have starting making deposits.
• Go to bed earlier/get up earlier.
  Still working on this…
• Take care of my skin/hair/nails.
  Though I’ve had a few lazy nights where I just went to bed, for the most part I am taking the time to apply moisturizer and to invest in better conditioning products for my hair.  I think taking a daily vitamin is also helping too.
• Drink more water.
  Been pretty good about this but I need to buy a water bottle to carry with.
• Take my vitamins and supplements/drink more wine.
  Taking my vitamin every day.  Trying to get used to the taste of my superfood powder.  Been mostly good with getting that glass of wine in.
• Clean more often.
  I’m much better than usual but realized that I have more clothes than will actually fit into my dresser.  Sad that it took me so long to know that because my clothes are always NOT in my dresser!
• Be more social.
  Haven’t really made any strides with that yet.
• Spend at least one hour each week on my web projects.
  I’ve been updating this here blog, so that’s a plus, but I’m still neglecting other projects I should be paying attention to.
• Explore Los Angeles.
  Haven’t started that yet, though I am going to a different location for my gym and that’s in an area of L.A. I never go to so it kinda counts… right?

I’m quite proud to say that tonight will be the 13th day in a row (not counting weekends) where I have gone to the gym right after work.  I’m at the point now where I know I will deeply regret it if I don’t go.  I have no excuse to skip it.

When I leave work, right outside my building’s lobby, I can take a left and walk 10 minutes to the subway station, or I can take a right and walk 10 minutes to the gym.  Even when I’m super tired or just feeling lazy, I make myself take that right.  I don’t even stop to think about it or give myself time to complain.  I just need to get myself there, and once I’m there, everything else falls into place.  I don’t have to do a hardcore workout every time if I’m not feeling it.  Just getting in the gym is half the struggle, and once i’m in, I always get a satisfying workout, at least 15 minutes in the sauna, and then a brisk 20-minute walk to the subway station.   After another 10 minutes on the subway, it’s an 8-minute walk to my apartment, a 30-minute walk with the dogs, and then shower, dinner, and a relaxing evening at home.

So, have I noticed a difference?  Well, let’s see:

My energy during the day is better.  My mood is elevated and I’m not easily irritated (though it’s just my nature to find most people irritating), it’s getting easier to wake up in the morning, my legs feel stronger and more flexible (I make sure to stretch them), and my mind problem areas, my stomach and back, are starting to get more toned.  Those two are not quite there yet, but today especially I noticed a slight improvement.

I by no means consider myself “fat.”  At 5′0″ and 105 lbs, I know I am very lucky to be the size I am and that many women would kill to have my body.  I’m not being egotistic or anything; I want to make it clear that I don’t have a distorted body image and do appreciate what I have.  I’m not trying to lose weight, but instead, I want to sculpt and tone certain areas of my body.  My lower back, sides, and stomach carry most of my body’s fat, and it is my personal preference to have a leaner, more defined appearance in these areas.  Now, I know you can’t “spot reduce” and that to decrease fat in a specific area, you just have to decrease body fat overall.  I’m trying to do this by building more muscle and doing a bit more cardio (not that much though since I don’t like cardio).  I’m slowly getting there.  The other day I overheard a personal trainer tell his client (and I’ve heard this before) that in females in takes 4 - 6 weeks of steady exercise before 1 pound of fat is replaced with 1 pound of muscle.  I also know that most people stop right before this period.  I’ve always worked out but never steadily for more than 4 weeks before taking a week or two off and starting again.  I plan on going steady this time!

In addition to the exercise, I know that I have to eat better.  There’s a saying that “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.”  I believe this to be true.  My abs are pretty strong, but my torso area doesn’t look very defined because there’s a layer of fat covering up  my muscles.  The exercise is helping reduce my overall body fat, but I also need to make healthier eating choices.  Not only for my appearance, but also because what you eat really does affect your mood, energy, and of course, your health.

Today is the 12th day (again, not counting weekends), that I’ve eaten vegetarian before 6 P.M.  It hasn’t been hard at all and it’s been much healthier than eating the fast food lunches that work provides.  Before, I was taking in 1,200 - 1,500 calories before I left work.  Now, it’s more like 700 - 900.  I still eat whatever I want for dinner, which I think is very necessary.  If I were to deprive myself completely of foods I love, I would never be able to maintain this.  Also, I’m not being a strict vegetarian which helps me be flexible and stick to this.  I still eat fish and eggs, cheese and milk.  Ralphs has been having a sale on Lean Cuisine frozen dinners.  All entrees, be it the $4 ones or the $2.50 boxes, are just $1.77 each!  You can sure bet I’ve been stocking up and have been bringing a vegetarian or fish entree for lunch, plus a cup of light yogurt.  Throughout the day I snack on fruit, almonds, and the occassional cookie or crackers.

It did take a few days to get use to eating smaller (normal-size) portions, but now I find myself quite satisfied.  As for dinner after work, anything goes but I am trying to eat healthier and not eat out. I bought a slow cooker to make sure I have food ready for me when I get home.  This goes a looooooooooong way towards making sure I don’t eat out or quickly fry up something unhealthy.  Of course, I have the Lean Cuisines in the fridge as a last resort, but I want to make sure I don’t deprive myself of foods I love.

During the weekends, I don’t go to the gym and I eat out a couple times.  I don’t feel badly about it because I tend to be very active on the weekends running errands and walking around Hollywood.  The only thing that bothers me about my routine is that by going to the gym in the evenings, I am missing out on events or meeting up with friends because I am instead in the gym.  Maybe after I reach the 6-week mark, I will try to adjust my sleeping patterns so I end up getting up early and going to the gym before work.  More on that in a separate post.

Last week, I went to the gym every day after work.  I want to make that a regular part of my life, however it’s only week two and I may be faltering already.

I think I’m getting sick.  All day, my nasal passages, throat, and back of my mouth have felt irritated.  They feel kinda raw and exposed, almost like the feeling you get when you accidentally get water up your nose, but that’s not the case here.  Usually, when I do get sick, my sinuses are the first to be affected.

However, I don’t feel that sick yet and, normally, I would still go to the gym.  However, there are two events happening tonight that I really want to attend, and with one starting at 7 PM and me needing to walk the dogs before I get dressed and head out, I don’t see the gym fitting into my schedule this evening.

So what is it that’s going on that will make me miss the gym?

Well, first, Digg is having a meetup!  For those of you not in the know, Digg is a very popular social news website where anyone can submit links to cool web finds and the community votes on it.  The more “diggs” a submission gets, the more visibility it gets.  Usually, if a site is “dugg” and made popular, it experiences what is known as “The Digg Effect” meaning the site’s servers usually crash because of the enormous amount of traffic.  I visit Digg every day, several times a day; it’s a great source for news, information and even fun, trivial stuff.  Some of my favorite sites right now I only discovered through Digg.

Anyway, the people behind Digg occasionally host a gathering of Digg users.  They’ve met in NYC, San Antonio, and San Francisco among others.  Now they are coming to Los Angeles, and not just Los Angeles, but right in my neighborhood!  I really want to go.

Also happening tonight, the Knights of Monte Carlo are performing at King King, which is only a few blocks away from the Digg meetup. I only saw the Knights once before and I really would like to see them again.  They don’t go on until 10 PM, so if I aimed for it, I could make both the Digg shindig and catch the Knights on stage.

Now how do I fit the gym in there? I walk in the door to my apartment at 6:15 PM.  Doors open for Digg at 7:00 PM and I do expect it to reach capacity.  They strongly recommend early arrival so I want to get there as early as possible.  I have to walk the dogs, which is usually at least 30 minutes, and I have to get dressed and do my hair and makeup.  Though that never takes too long, I don’t see myself leaving my apartment earlier than 7:30 PM.  Bleck.  My regular gym is literally above the club where the Digg meetup will be.  Maybe I should walk the dogs, pack my gym bag, and then head to the gym and get ready there… can I fit in a workout?  Do I want to? Oh wait, what about dinner? When am I gonna eat!  I don’t plan on drinking tonight because I do have to work tomorrow and I’ve cut back on drinking anything but wine as part of my “get healthy” plans, but a girl’s gotta eat.

This is why I am not a social butterfly.  Give me slippers, food and my laptop any day over a busy social calendar.  Man, I’m getting tired and lazy just thinking about it.

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I’ve been really good so far about eating vegetarian until 6 PM, but oh lordy, I almost lost it yesterday.

The office-provided lunch was Popeye’s fried chicken.  I really, really like their spicy fried chicken. It tastes so good in my mouth, crunch crunch crunch. (Hah, obviously I’m still thinking about it.)

The smell of fried chicken permeated the office while I lunched on my butternut squash ravioli and steamed veggies.  It was torture.  I had to get out of the office and went on my now regular 30-minute uphill lunchtime walk.  Unfortunately, when I got back, I could still smell the fried chicken and saw that there were plenty of leftovers.  It was so hard to resist, and I don’t know how I managed to, but I did.

Lunch today, which should be arriving any minute now, will be Costco hot dogs.  They are surprisingly very good, and very bad for you.  One hot dog is about 560 calories and most of us eat at least 2.  Ugh!

I brought in three-cheese rigatoni with veggies in a tomato sauce.  Healthy, yes, but it surely won’t smell as good as a Costco polish hot dog with mustard and chips.  Mmm!  I must get out of the office again once the food is here and remind myself of the reason why I’m doing this.  My mood and energy levels have been way better ever since I started; can’t stop now!

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Day 5 - 2009 Resolutions - Part 1

Friday afternoon, less than an hour left in the work day. We had our monthly townhall meeting earlier this afternoon.  It does a really good job of putting everyone in a “the-week’s-over” frame of mind.  Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet.

I’m not as sore as I was last night.  I guess all I needed was a good night’s sleep.  My legs are only just a little achy.  My arms and chest are almost back at 100%.  However, as expected, my abs are starting to ache, especially the sides along my ribs.  Those torso twists are killer!

I’m really looking forward to going to the gym this evening.  I wonder how busy it will be on a Friday afternoon.  I feel great right now. My mood and energy levels are the highest they’ve been in a while.  Drinking a lot of water, going to bed earlier, and working out regularly has helped tremendously.  Though, I will have to say that I think the biggest factor is not eating the lunches that are provided here at work.  Today was Jack in the Box.  Instead of greasy, fat and salt filled burgers and fries, I had a double vegetarian sausage patty with egg on a whole grain bun and half an avocado.  I then went for my usual lunch break walk which is about .8 miles uphill (pretty steep in parts).  I do the 1.6 mile walk in about 30 minutes.  Not too bad; don’t want to come back to work all sweaty.

I truly believe that changing my diet is largely responsible for my change in energy and mood.  I feel more sociable and less irritable.  How great is that? Stuffing yourself with processed, artificial, calorie-heavy food really does weigh you down both mentally and physically.  I don’t miss the food at all since I only ate it because it was easy and free and I’m lazy.  Thankfully, all that is changing.

I also thought that drinking more water every day would be hard to do, but now that I’m working out regularly, my body is actually craving water regularly. I automatically reach for my glass of water and refill it several times a day without having to think about it.  The same goes for going to bed earlier.  While they do give me a burst of energy immediately afterwards, my evening workouts ensure that I’m tired and ready for bed now by midnight, if not earlier.

Man, I should have done this sooner.

Day 4 - 2009 Resolutions

Me so sore. Soooooooo sore.

Today was abs day. So my abs aren’t sore yet. But my arms, chest, back, and my legs—oh god—my legs are on fire. It’s difficult to reach around and take my shirts off. The mere sight of stairs make me cringe. When I sit down, like I am now, I never want to get up again.

I have to soon though. Gotta make lunch for tomorrow. I have no idea what! Got some collard greens I can cook, but how and with what. Bleck.

I’m not getting discouraged. I actually enjoy being sore. It’s a testament to all my hard work. I’m just tired and cranky right now. It will take a a few more days before my body gets used to my routine. I’m already getting tired much earlier now. Might actually be in bed at, gasp!, 11 PM tonight.

I need to buy a slow cooker. Like now, so good night.